Method and Apparatus for Data Recovery System Using Storage Based Journaling

1. A method for data recovery in a data storage system comprising: receiving I/O requests from a host machine, the I/O requests being directed to a production volume, the I/O requests including write requests; producing an original snapshot of the production volume, the original snapshot representative of a first data state of the production volume; servicing the write requests, including performing write operations on the production volume to produce an updated production volume, the updated production volume having a second data state; storing a plurality of first journal entries, each first journal entry corresponding to one of the write requests and containing data associated with the write request; performing a recovery operation comprising steps of: producing a copy of the original snapshot; applying one or more first journal entries to the original snapshot to produce an updated snapshot, the updated snapshot having a third data state that is a data state of the production volume at a point in time between the first data state and the second data state; and restoring the third data state on the production volume based on the updated snapshot by copying the updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state so that the data recovery can be performed on the production volume in the third data state; and performing a re-recovery operation comprising steps of: making a copy of the copy of the original snapshot to produce a second copy of the original snapshot; applying the one or more first journal entries to the second copy of the original snapshot to produce a second updated snapshot; and copying the second updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state, wherein the re-recovery operation can be performed if an error occurred during the step of applying the one or more first journal entries to the original snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: producing a current snapshot of the updated production volume, the current snapshot representative of the second data state; and restoring the first data state on the production volume from the original snapshot, wherein the step of applying includes applying the one or more first journal entries to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising at a time subsequent to the data recovery, restoring the second data state of the production volume by copying the current snapshot to the production volume.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: producing a current snapshot of the updated production volume, the current snapshot representative of the second data state; applying the one or more first journal entries to the original snapshot to produce the updated snapshot; and copying the updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: producing a copy of the original snapshot; applying the one or more first journal entries to the copy of the original snapshot to produce the updated snapshot; and copying the updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising: copying the original snapshot to the production volume thereby restoring the production volume to the first data state; and applying the one or more first journal entries to the production volume thereby restoring the production volume to the third data state.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: applying the one or more first journal entries to the copy of the original snapshot to produce the updated snapshot; and copying the updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising: producing a current snapshot of the updated production volume, the current snap shot representative of the second data state; producing a copy of the original snapshot; applying the one or more first journal entries to the copy of the original snapshot to produce the updated snapshot; and copying the updated snapshot to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

9. A method for data recovery in a data storage system comprising: receiving I/O requests from a host machine, the I/O requests being directed to a production volume, the I/O requests including write requests; producing an original snapshot of the production volume, the original snapshot representative of a first data state of the production volume; servicing the write requests including performing write operations on the production volume to produce an updated production volume, the updated production volume having a second data state; storing a plurality of first journal entries, each first journal entry being associated with a write request and containing data in the production volume that is to be overwritten by the write request; performing a recovery operation comprising steps of: producing a first copy of the undated production volume; producing a second copy of the updated production volume; applying one or more first journal entries to the second copy of the updated production volume to obtain a recovered volume having a third data state that is a data state of the production volume at a point in time earlier than the second data state; and restoring the third data state on the production volume based on the recovered volume by copying the recovered volume to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state so that the data recovery can be performed on the production volume in the third data state.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: storing a copy of the updated production volume on a second volume; and applying one or more first journal entries to the updated production volume so that the production volume is restored to the third data state.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising: storing a copy of the updated production volume on a second volume; applying one or more first journal entries to the copy that is stored on the second volume to produce the recovered volume; and copying the recovered volume to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the one or more first journal entries are applied to the updated production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

13. A storage system comprising: a production volume, the production volume being in a first data state; a plurality of secondary volumes; and a controller operative to receive read requests and write requests from the host machine, the controller further operative to service a write request by performing steps of: producing a journal entry in response to a write request, the journal entry including data from the production volume that will be overwritten by the write request; storing the journal entry being stored on a first volume from among the secondary volumes; and subsequent to producing the journal entry, performing one or more I/O operations on the production volume to service the write request, wherein a plurality of journal entries are stored on the first volume as a result of servicing a plurality of write requests, wherein production volume is in a second data state as a result of the write requests, the controller further operative to perform a recovery operation on a current data state of the production volume comprising steps of: producing a first copy of the production volume in its current data state; producing a second copy of the production volume in its current data state; applying one or more journal entries to the current data state of the second copy of the production volume to generate a recovery volume having an earlier data state, the earlier data state being a data state of the production volume at a point in time between the first data state and the second data state; and restoring the third data state on the production volume based on the recovered volume by copying the recovered volume to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state so that data recovery can be performed on the production volume in the third data state.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the recovery operation further comprises steps of: storing a copy of the production volume in its current data state to one of the second volumes; and applying one or more journal entries to the production volume in its current data state so that the production volume is restored to the third data state.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the recovery operation further comprises steps of: storing a copy of the production volume in its current data state to one of the second volumes; applying one or more journal entries to the copy to produce the recovered volume; and copying the recovered volume to the production volume to restore the production volume to the third data state.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more journal entries are applied to the production volume in its current data state to restore the production volume to the third data state.